Something of the middle child of the trilogy, this lacks the polish of the first game (which as a 2D platformer benefited from developer LakeFeperd's experience making all those Sonic fangames) or the third (which benefited from his experience making, well, Spark 2) but brings enough to the table to still be worth a look.

This is a very clear send-up to the Adventure-era Sonic games, with the open, shortcut-friendly levels of Adventure 1 and the more industrial atmosphere and grittier (if tongue-in-cheek) storytelling of Adventure 2. Levels are meant to be both exciting and replayable, with resident Metal Sonic stand-in Fark's rocket-like speed and equally impressive agility lending well to speedruns. A medal system, with 2 each based on time and scoring, even encourages this, though of the two sets i really only bothered with the time medals.

Things aren't perfect; again the game lacks polish, the levels lack memorable backdrops or sequences and can start to blend into each other while the bosses are a joke (unfortunate when the first game had some excellent ones). That said, there's still a great time to be had with Spark 2, and the series only goes up from here

This is pretty much exactly what I'd want out of a 2D platformer - good-feeling controls, fun levels (and even good bosses, which are a rarity in the genre), a banger soundtrack, and very high replayability.

The game wears its Sonic inspirations on its sleeve, which on top of being a PC game released in the mid-2010s means it ends up paralleling fellow Sonic clone Freedom Planet. The two compare and contrast in a lot of interesting ways, with Freedom Planet resembling Satam and the Archie comics in tone while Spark reminds me more of the Adventure/Advance games and certain action-y Newgrounds animations. Both are worth your time of course and would get a full recommendation from me to any Sonic fan, but of the two I find myself more likely to replay Spark due to its touch-and-go intro and more speed-friendly levels